


Shemlen Literature

by ModernAgeSomniari



Series: Mala Suledin Nadas [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bad Porn, Denial, F/M, Pre-Relationship, The Randy Dowager Quarterly, bad literature, did I mention denial?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25360063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernAgeSomniari/pseuds/ModernAgeSomniari
Summary: Eli spends her first few days at Haven exploring every part of it she can - she's always been envious of shemlen books, so she reads every one she can find.  Only then she goes into the shack opposite where Solas stands and finds something she didn't quite expect...Solas, as ever, is there to offer guidance.
Relationships: Female Lavellan/Solas
Series: Mala Suledin Nadas [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829143
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Shemlen Literature

Her face is the picture of bemusement as she wanders out of the hut opposite his own.She has a flimsy book in one hand, idly flicking through it and he can’t not study her face, how it shifts from one expression of confusion and mild if fascinated disgust to another.He tells himself it is because he is trying to learn how she thinks so as to better make his presence here easy.He does not believe himself.

Finally she stops, mouth slightly open in un-self-conscious bewilderment and looks up, finding him and walking over to him like he has answers.He braces himself - whilst he has read up extensively on the accepted modern literary canon he is never quite sure what he is about to be tested on.

“Why do they write this stuff down!?”

She comes close, bumping her arm against his as she shows him the book, almost brandishing it.“I mean, what?I don’t….Why!?”

He slides his hand under the open book, definitely accidentally brushing his fingers up against hers, and tilts his head to read.For a moment he is utterly thrown, but clearly his face changes because she chuckles beside him.“Really, Rift-mage, I would say your eyebrows just hit your hairline if you had one.”

He should probably be offended by that, but was a little distracted by what he was reading.

“I must admit, I don’t…”

“This isn’t even the worst bit, wait…”

She leans even closer in her enthusiasm, flicking through the pages until she makes a small triumphant sound and points to the second page.“Look at that!Look!”

He looks.She is too close to his face not to notice the sudden grin pulling at his mouth.

“I….am a little unsure what to say.Is this particular activity physically possible amongst shemlen do we think?”

“Of course not, they are not so different from us.No one’s back bends that way!I don’t know what I’m more confused by, that they write this sort of stuff down or that they do it so badly.I mean, why bother with all of this ‘turgid monolith’ stuff when you could just say ‘cock’?”

He should not be laughing.Her eyes are bright beside him and her grin is infectious.

“I think, Ellana, that is is supposed to be romantic.”

Her expression was as eloquent as the snort she made, before she leant closer, a little scandalised, her voice in a conspiratorial whisper.If he mirrors her, joining in her faux-conspiracy, it is to encourage her feelings of trust in him so as to better ingratiate himself into her confidence.Yes.

“What do I do with it now?”

“Put it back?”

“What if they know I’ve read it?”

“If they were so worried, surely they would not have left it lying around.”

“It was on the bed.”

“Ah.Perhaps a practice manual, then?”

Her snort of scandalised disgust turns into a conspiratorial giggle - anyone would be proud of eliciting such a response, the slight soaring feeling in his chest is utterly natural.

“Ugh Solas that’s awful never say that again.”

“Regardless, perhaps they would not mind being known to be….adventurous?”

“Solas.They’re shemlen.Chantry shemlen.Isn’t sex supposed to be a crime in the eyes of the Maker or something?”

“Only if one utilises the turgid monoliths incorrectly, I understand.”

She is shocked for a moment and then she is laughing and he allows himself to chuckle beside her, feeding on her joy and shamelessly courting it.Until she looks up at him from under those thick eyelashes with a look that, turgid monoliths aside, makes something tremble deep within him that he had previously thought dusty and covered in cobwebs.

“So you’re not appalled and embarrassed by this then?”

“Did you expect me to be?”

“No, not really.” She laughs again, only this time it is softer.And knowing.“Honestly I’d never really thought about it before.”

“But you have now?”

She reaches to the book he is still holding and gently pulls it from his fingers, the paper dragging against his skin in a way that shouldn’t be sensual but for the assessing half-grin on her face as she frees it from his grasp and moves away.

“Yes, Solas.I do believe I have thought about it now.”

This is unwise, he thinks.He tells himself that, if he had only had this thought a split second earlier, he would not have inclined his head towards her with what he knew was his own version of smirk on his face and revelled in seeing her breath stutter a moment before she turns away.He does not believe himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so Eli is known for her love of books and literature - Haven and hanging around humans is a field day for her. However, I love that there's a copy of the Randy Dowager in the shack opposite Solas. And Eli would definitely not have a small reaction to it. Hence this.


End file.
